Board of Trustees introduce baseball training facility, will vote in June
The Board of Trustees Friday introduced construction of an indoor baseball practice facility at Theunissen Stadium.
The board will rule on the facility at its June meeting.
The 7,000 square-foot facility, which will be built adjacent to the team's current clubhouse and bullpens, was made possible by a $500,000 anonymous matching donation announced on Sep. 28.
The donor additionally pledged another $500,000, to match other donations to the training facility dollar for dollar, totaling $1.5 million. The donation is the largest monetary commitment in the program’s history and one of the largest in athletic department history. The facility will be paid for entirely with donated funds.
The board laid out blueprints of the complex at Thursday's meeting. It will include a vestibule entrance allowing players and visitors to enter the facility without going through the team's locker room and medical training room, two pitching mounds, four batting cages, storage and additional space for training purposes.
Construction is scheduled to begin in August and end in January of 2017.
Head Baseball Coach Steve Jaksa said in September the program's facilities are nicer than other schools, but the facility enhances the player experience.
“The limiting thing is more the after-practice stuff,” he said. “If a guy wants to come back after dinner or if he wants to hit for 20 extra minutes to work on one thing. Maybe watched his video tape and he wants to work on something, now he can do it.”
